LIVE BEACH WEDDING MUSIC

wedding entertainment ideas for beach brides & beards

Australia has 10,685 beaches and over 8000 islands. No wonder we’re so fond of beachside weddings, eh?
But when it comes to beach wedding music, there’s not much practical advice out there.

Can real humans play your live music as you walk down the sandy aisle?
What happens if you're on a secluded island with no power?
And what makes a great beach wedding song?

As self-proclaimed beachy music experts, here’s a few things we think you should know.

Live beach wedding music requires a little planning...

Beach brides and grooms: before talking to prospective wedding entertainers, ponder the following.

Destination wedding travel logistics

Your awesome wedding is on a secluded stretch of sand, miles away from cold, cloudy Melbourne. So how do you get your wedding band and all their equipment on site? Not all bands can travel. We're lucky that our lives allow for it, and we love it! Bands like us travel by car, plane, ferry and caravan throughout australia. If plane travel isn’t required, bands can bring all their own equipment - pa, mic stands, the lot. Otherwise there are always options for local pa hire or unplugged entertainment. Whichever wedding band you hire should be able to advise you on the most cost-effective and practical entertainment logistics.

Outdoor weddings? Go unplugged.

Unpowered acoustic music is ideal for beach weddings. Not only does it sound perfect, it’s also a practical option for your outdoor wedding setup. A word of warning - acoustic doesn't necessarily mean unpowered. Few wedding bands can perform without amplification, so make sure you ask them first. Lucky for you, we were street performers in a previous life. On average 50% of our bookings are for completely unplugged performances. We’re surprisingly audible without any amplification at all.

Coastal weddings need a little more volume

High up on a clifftop? Waves crashing and wind howling? You’re going to need a louder setup for this. Careful song selection can make all the difference. If nature is likely to be roaring, un-powered music just won't do. Even with a PA, wind can be a problem. If your guest numbers are intimate, you can get away with unpowered music. Your vocalists will need Fidel-sized lungs though.

Your favourite wedding musicians taking in the beach view on Kangaroo Island (SA).

Live beach wedding entertainment ideas

Forget the songs for a second.

Think about the style of music that would best suit your particular beach vibe.
Which genres? Instruments?

Ideas for acoustic wedding singers

For an acoustic beach ceremony, you’ll need wedding singers with good lungs. Beyond that, what sort of vocals do you like? You can have a male singer, female singer, or both. Personally, we think combined male & female harmonies give ceremonies a special dose of awesome. If your singers are also instrumentalists, you’ll be in tropical heaven.

Informal alternatives for beachy instrumentals

Instrumental wedding music doesn’t have to take the form of a classical string quartet. A more relevant string option for beach weddings might be guitar and ukulele. It doesn’t have to be a traditional hawaiian sound, but a ukulele in the right hands is an absolute dream. Small acoustic instruments can make your beach wedding sound perfect.

Dreamy island ukulele weddings

A barefoot ukulele serenade will give you that delightful tropical wedding feel. You may not know this, but different ukuleles give a different sound. We use banjolele, soprano longneck and tenor ukuleles for solo or twin-ukulele wedding music. Adding acoustic guitar offers a lovely full sound. Alternatively, banjo or mandolin provide creative options for unique wedding sounds. You'll also get a sound that's worlds apart if we're fingerpicking, frailing or strumming. That's something you can ask your band to demonstrate to you in your first meeting with them.

Destination weddings in Australia? You betchya! Meet your friendly beach wedding musicians here at Port Stephens (NSW).

Best wedding songs for island brides

Want a beach wedding without Israel Kamakawiwo'ole’s version of 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow'?
Yeah, we can totally do that. And there’s no need to replace with Jason Mraz.
Ignore google, there are better options out there.

Here are some ideas to keep your beach wedding song selection appropriate and interesting:

Instrumental wedding songs

Instrumentals make for perfect processional songs. They're also a great way to work around pretty songs with average lyrics - just remove them! We love instrumental versions of songs like Old Cape Cod. Lonely Nights In Hawaii (never mind the name) sounds blissfully romantic on koa ukulele. Or for something a little more upbeat calypso, try Isle of Capri.

Ukulele wedding songs

A wedding ukulele serenade. Is there a more perfect sound to walk down the aisle to? We think not. There’s a mysterious old tune called Snowdrop, dating back to the 1930s or earlier. It sounds gorgeous as a ukulele duet. And if you're so inclined, we wrote our own sweet little ukulele ditty on Kangaroo Island. It’s called Bay Of Shoals, and we think it’s perfect as a ceremony song. For coastal weddings we also love an instrumental version of The Decemberists song Oceanside.

Tropical wedding singers

Vocal harmonies sound delightful in the salty sea breeze. With so many options available, we like to advise personally to get the right songs for your wedding. As a starting point, consider what feel you want your beach wedding to have. Will it be fun, kitschy, retro, tropical? If so, Elvis is king. Blue Moon with delicate upbeat vocals is a great choice for a first dance. For an indie-folk, hipster feel, listen to our take on January Wedding, the Avett Brothers song. If you’re after something quirkier, we've got ideas. How about a unique wedding processional to Laura Marling’s Crawled Out Of The Sea? With male & female vocals, it sounds divine.

Our best tips for beach wedding entertainment

Straight up, don’t opt for Somewhere Over The Rainbow. It’s been done to death, and the lyrics aren’t even wedding-positive. There are better choices out there.
Islands without vehicle ferries can be expensive to hire/cart gear to. Island brides & salty grooms should stick to small, portable instruments and entertainers who can perform totally acoustic.
Speaking destination wedding logistics, find a band you can hire for the entire wedding. It’s more cost effective than booking a wedding singer for the ceremony and a separate band for the reception.
Talk to your wedding entertainers about your bad weather backup plan. It’s not just rain and hail, even a bit of extra sea breeze could affect ideal song choices. Your awesome wedding band will be able to advise you best.

Beach weddings sound better with a ukulele (or two). Here's one of ours soaking up some rays.

Our favourite Australian destinations for beach weddings

Did we mention we’re addicted to exploring australian beaches? In our travels, we've found many beautiful beach wedding locations.

Here's a few of our favourite destinations by state:

Queensland island brides are spoilt for choice

The great barrier reef islands are an obvious choice for picturesque beach weddings. From heron island to the whitsundays (daydream island, hamilton island, airlie beach) up to the far-north. Magnetic island and lizard island are on our destination wedding bucket list. Queensland brides, don't overlook the mainland. Even towns like cairns, noosa, mackay and port douglas can provide excellent beach backdrops. For low-fuss destination weddings, island brides should consider stradbroke island and fraser island. The fraser coast including hervey bay and rainbow beach is also worth checking out. In our mission to wet our toes on every aussie beach, we’ve stumbled upon quiet coastal treasures. Carmila beach and clairview beach are two of our personal favourites.

New South Wales has the whitest sands

The coast of nsw offers fewer island destinations, but plenty of incredible mainland beaches. Byron bay may be the first destination that comes to mind (and no stress, we do provide byron bay wedding music), but there's so much more. What about the mid-north coast beaches of south west rocks, arakoon and north haven? Want something close to the central coast with a destination island vibe? Consider a port stephens wedding. You can take your pick of gorgeous sandy strips between hawks nest and shoal bay. For the whitest sand in the world, you’ll have to make yours a jervis bay wedding. The entire shoalhaven region is idyllic, with over 100 beaches to choose from. If you’re stuck for ideas, ask us about some of our personal favourites.

You'll have no trouble convincing these wedding musicians to join you on a Jervis Bay beach..

Victoria wins for convenient beach weddings

We’ve been exploring our homestate beaches all our lives. And we’ve got some ideas to share with our victorian beach brides. Close to melbourne are popular beaches like sorrento, portsea, mornington, rosebud, and rye. Just a little further east and you’ll find quieter gems like wilsons prom and phillip island. Stretch beyond for beach wedding destinations with rural charm, like lakes entrance and mallacoota. Along the west coast are the great ocean road wedding destinations. Torquay, lorne, port fairy, queenscliff, ocean grove, wye river and apollo bay are popular. Further, sleepy beachside towns like portland and nelson are perfect for intimate outdoor weddings.

But South Australia has hidden island wedding gems

We can bring our unique wedding music to adelaide beaches and beyond. If your wedding destination is the far-flung south, consider a kingston or robe wedding. The fleurieu peninsula is dotted with coastal treasures too. And we can’t talk australian destination weddings without suggesting a kangaroo island wedding. Picture pristine, secluded sands stretching across 540km of coastline. The hardest part is picking the right beach for your wedding. Not all are accessible to the public, or without 4wd. Lucky for you, your favourite entertainers have endured many hours on kangaroo island beaches. We’d love to advise you personally on the best wedding spots.

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We're Fidel & Sarah

A Melbourne folk band with wedding sensibilities and punk rock spirit. Most days you'll find us off-grid in the country playing banjo tunes to the kangaroos, or travelling around Australia in our vintage caravan Myrtle. We love 99% dark chocolate, living every day like a holiday, and brides & grooms who aren't afraid to do whatever the hell they want for their special day.

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Alternative wedding band Fidel & Sarah Melbourne, Adelaide & Brisbane